22 March 2019

Dr.M’s Weapon To Bypass Corrupt Top Judges Still In Control Of Kangaroo Court...

When Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, a Court of Appeal Judge, exposed last month (14 Feb) that there were members of the judiciary who have been working with private parties to scam the government, almost everybody was stunned. While the public knew the existence of Kangaroo Court, they hadn’t the clue that the judges were such a scumbag in swindling public funds.

You don’t have to be a smart, dedicated and clean judge to get a promotion. In fact, such judges would not be promoted at all. Judges were promoted either because they happened to attend the same school or because they simply followed the orders of other top judges. Not only judges who refused to follow orders were denied promotion, they would most often than not harassed.

As a result, Malaysia’s judicial system operates like a business cartel – a gangland of corrupt judges working hand-in-glove with executives to make money. The reward could be extraordinary, as can be seen in the 2009 Perak Constitutional Crisis which brought down the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat government so that Najib could snatch back the Perak state using illegal and despicable methods.

Yes, we’re talking about then-Chief Justice Zaki Azmi and UMNO top lawyer Hafarizam Harun. As a reward for their roles in helping former Prime Minister Najib Razak, a RM2.2 billion contract for the 50-km Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project was gifted to Emrail Sdn Bhd and Zabima Engineering Sdn Bhd – companies owned by Zaki and Hafarizam.

After Court of Appeal Judge Hamid told all and sundry that top judges in the country were the tyrants in the Palace of Justice, there’s one person who wasn’t surprised with the explosive affidavit. That person is none other than Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. While every Tom, Dick and his hamster demanded for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), Mahathir wasn’t keen on such an idea.

Initially, Mahathir said the government would study the proposal to set up an RCI, but he was also quick to add – “However, we don’t really run down the judiciary openly.” Very few actually asked the real meaning behind the 93-year-old premier’s statement. Exactly why did the old man give an impression that the judiciary was somehow “untouchable”?

A week after the judicial misconduct was exposed, PM Mahathir announced the setting up of an RCI to investigate the allegations of scams between certain top judges and private litigants to cheat the government. However, close to a month after the setting up of the RCI, the terms have yet to be determined. So, was Mahathir government serious about this so-called RCI?

Mahathir, having ruled from 1981 to 2003 before returning as premier again last May, knew more than anyone that RCI has been just a toothless tiger. Who can forget the RCI into the Lingam tape, set up in 2007 to investigate lawyer V.K. Lingam after he was caught on a video clip boasting about how he could arrange judges’ appointments through his political and business contacts?

There was even a photo of Lingam and former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin fishing side by side at New Zealand’s Lake Wakatipu. Yet, nothing was done after the royal panel found there was evidence that lawyer V.K. Lingam had committed criminal misbehaviour. It would take the Federal Court another 10 years (2017) to sentence the despicable lawyer to six months in jail.

Even then, he was found guilty of contempt of court for accusing a federal court judge of plagiarism in a written judgment, not because of his role in brokering the appointments and promotions of judges in the country. But Lingam never gets to be sent to prison. For two years, he enjoyed his luxurious lifestyle overseas and escaped jail – applying to set aside his conviction and jail term.

Lingam actually left the country in 2013 and had not returned, postponing multiple court proceedings using medical certificates to argue he was unfit to travel. It would take Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, who headed the Federal Court five-man bench, to set aside Lingam conviction for contempt of court and six months jail in January this year.

If a lawyer like Lingam could play the judiciary system from 2007 until 2019, and still nowhere to be found in prison, imagine what a heavyweight like ex-PM Najib could manipulate with the system after plundering and stealing billions of dollars. Crooks like Lingam and Najib have very little respect for the judiciary system.

Najib had defiantly and deliberately refused to enter the “dock” during the case management over his 25 charges of graft and money laundering relating to transactions amounting to RM2.3 billion linked to 1MDB. He had freely and silently walked out of the court room for a so-called “toilet break” while the legal proceedings were ongoing, not to mention sleeping in front of a three-member Court of Appeal bench.

Heck, even Najib’s own hotshot lawyer – Shafee Abdullah – joined the bandwagon, using his pet dog as an excuse to delay his client’s trial. Amazingly, all the judges appeared to be on Najib and Shafee’s side, allowing them to do as they wish. When Mahathir said “we don’t really run down the judiciary openly,” what he actually meant was the judiciary is so broken and corrupted it’s beyond repair.

To clean up the judicial will require the firing of at least 80% of the judges, a process which will definitely cripple the system and create massive havoc. That’s why Mahathir said the government cannot run down the judiciary. But there’re many ways to skin the fat cats of the past corrupt politicians of the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) regime.

One of the fastest ways is to set up a Special High Court and Special Appeal Court specifically for corruption cases, as suggested by PM Mahathir two days ago (19 March) . The new government was frustrated as judges still loyal to the crooked Najib’s regime have used the excuse that they were too busy handling other cases to expedite the graft trial of former premier Najib Razak.

In the same breath, the proposal to establish the Special High Court could also mean that more crooks under the previous BN government would be investigated and slapped with charges. It also shows the seriousness of the corruption problem affecting the country. So, crooks have every reason to worry about this latest proposal.

There would be no excuses to delay the trials on corruption cases anymore. More importantly, clean judges can be cherry picked to head the special court. Still, the government cannot set up a Special High Court overnight. It will require new laws to legitimise the new court. Clearly, this is a shortcut to bypass the corrupt top judges who are still in control of the Kangaroo Court. - FT

Singapore gets to see the ugly face of UMNO and how Noh Omar thought he was being smart...

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said his Singapore counterpart, Tan Chuan Jin, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, following a commotion in the House today.Ariff assured Tan and his delegation that it was not an everyday scene in Malaysia’s Parliament.“I can assure you, Mr Tan, and the rest of your delegation, that it doesn’t happen daily. You were, as they say, in the wrong place at the wrong time.“But, it gave you an idea of how the Malaysian Parliament could look like, which could give the speaker a hard time sometimes,” he said in a speech at the Speaker’s Lecture Series: Governance in Singapore – A Parliamentary Perspective, held in the Parliament building.A shouting match had erupted between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional MPs over Tanjung Karang lawmaker Noh Omar’s three-day suspension.– Bernama

UMNO MPs will only obey

Malay Speakers,is it?...

BN lawmaker Noh Omar has accepted Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof’s decision to uphold his three-day suspension by deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming earlier.The Tanjong Karang MP had challenged Nga’s ruling issued at the start of today’s proceeding on the grounds that it was made in his absence.He had entered the Dewan Rakyat shortly before lunch break at 1pm and raised an objection with deputy speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon who was presiding over the session.Ariff, who presided after the Dewan Rakyat resumed at 2pm, noted Noh’s objection and gave the Umno lawmaker a chance to defend himself against Nga’s ruling.“I respect the decision made by the current speaker under Standing Order 44.Noh says ‘no’ to Nga suspending him, ‘yes’ to Ariff showing him the exit.“But I don’t respect the ruling made by deputy speaker from Telok Intan (Nga) this morning because I was absent,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby after finally accepting his suspension order. - mc

20 March 2019

When Malaysian prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against 26-year-old Siti Aisyah, and Indonesian who had been held two years on suspicion of killing the North Korean leader’s half brother, Kim Jong Nam, it raises millions of eyebrows. The judge discharged her without an acquittal after prosecutors said they wanted to withdraw the charge.

Prosecutors did not give any reason for the remarkable withdrawal. Siti Aisyah was accused alongside Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam of assassinating Kim by smearing VX nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2. But how could she be freed so easily? According to the prosecutor, the discretion to charge or not to charge a person lies with the Attorney General Tommy Thomas.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad insisted that the release of the Indonesian woman was made in accordance with the law. He has also denied that his government was under diplomatic pressure to free the suspect, despite the fact that the Indonesian government had repeatedly lobbied for charges against Siti to be dropped and for her to be allowed to return home.However, according to a letter revealed by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, A.G. Tommy Thomas had decided to drop the murder charge against Siti after “taking into account the good relations between our respective countries”. Hence, the Indonesian was released on March 10 upon the prosecution’s request to the Court to order a “discharge not amounting to acquittal”.

Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly had requested (or rather demanded) for Siti’s release based on three reasons. They argued that their citizen was a victim of deception and had nothing to gain from committing the act. Indonesia also claimed that Siti Aisyah “had no awareness whatsoever that she was being used as an intelligence tool of North Korea”.In fact, it was revealed that Indonesian government officials had held meetings with PM Mahathir, A.G.Thomas, and Malaysian police last year as part of their lobbying efforts to free Siti Aisyah. No matter what was the argument presented by Indonesia, Siti was involved in the assassination of Dictator Kim Jong-Un’s half brother.

Naturally, after the stunning release of Siti Aisyah on March 10, Vietnam did the same thing – asking that their citizen be released. Unfortunately, the Attorney General Chambers of Malaysia rejected Vietnam’s request to free Doan Thi Huong, raising accusation that the public prosecution has not acted fairly and practised double standard, not to mention screams discrimination.Defense lawyers from both sides have maintained the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents. If the prosecution could accept the Indonesian’s argument that Ms Siti was a victim of deception and had nothing to gain from committing the act, why can’t the same argument applies to Ms. Doan?

Newly appointed Malaysian Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor was equally puzzled as to the bizarre decisions of Attorney General Chambers. While it is true that the Attorney General was not obliged to give an explanation, he said it was abnormal for two individuals to be charged with the same crime but for one person to have his or her charges dropped.

The answer to the injustice is way beyond the rule of law, as Mahathir would like everyone to believe. And the real reason for the acquittal of the Indonesian Siti Aisyah, while Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong remains charged, can be found in the A.G. Tommy Thomas’ explanation in his letter to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur – the bilateral Indonesia-Malaysia relationship.

The relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia is similar to U.S.-Canada relationship. What the U.S. wants from Canada, the Americans would get it most of the time, as can be seen in the U.S.’ request to arrest Huawei CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou. Indonesia is always seen as the big brother of Malaysia, largely due to the sharing of the same ancestry.

That’s why you don’t see the opposition parties, especially UMNO Malay nationalist party and PAS Islamist party, protest over the sudden release of Indonesian Siti Aisyah, despite the glaring injustice. None of the leaders from UMNO or PAS dares to milk the issue for political gains. They chose to pretend nothing had happened.

More importantly, Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad owed Indonesia President “Jokowi” Joko Widodo a favour after their meeting in Jakarta last June. Two months later, the fruitful meeting saw Indonesia returning Equanimity, the luxury US$250 million superyacht, to Malaysia. But that was not the only things that both leaders discussed.

In exchange for the return of the yacht, bought with money stolen from 1MDB by Jho Low, the partner-in-crime of former PM Najib Razak, Malaysia has agreed to release Siti Aisyah. Mahathir was right to say his government was not under diplomatic pressure to release the Indonesian woman. It was part of the deal to help each other to achieve what both leaders wanted.

After released, Siti said – “I feel happy. I did not know this will happen. I did not expect it.” The fact that the suspect was shocked by the court’s decision suggests that even she had been kept in the dark over the secret deals, which could only be made at the highest diplomatic level. Too bad Jho Low didn’t hide any valuable assets in Vietnam that can be used by the Vietnamese government as bargaining chips.It wasn’t a coincidence that the Siti Aisyah’s release comes just a month before Indonesia’s general election, to be held on 17 April, 2019. Her unexpected release is seen as a boost to President Joko Widodo, who is seeking re-election. Jokowi gets the credit for securing the release of Siti, the same way Mahathir gets the praises for the return of the Equanimity.

Arrived at Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in Jakarta on a special aircraft managed by the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Siti Aisyah was greeted by hundreds of local media personnel. The nationwide coverage of Siti’s release and return to home also saw her thanking President Jokowi and Cabinet members. It was a win-win deal for both Malaysian and Indonesian leaders. - FT

19 March 2019

Sahabat Alam Malaysia is disappointed that despite a change of federal government, forest resource management remains unchanged. This same feeling is felt by many others in this country. Even though Pakatan Harapan loudly chanted a "New Malaysia" slogan soon after a new government was formed, many of the old attitudes and management approaches have remained much the same.The new government has failed to come up with new management, policies and directions while many old policies have made a comeback. The question is: prime minster Tun Mahathir and other PH leaders are afraid of change, and the ministers have not been as marvelous as many have thought to be.The way Tun Mahathir is running this country is just the same as how he did last time. Look East policy has been mentioned again, but he has no idea how to take the country out of the current doldrums.Tun Mahathir is well aware that the 1.7-million civil service force is way too large for the country and will eat into the country's development fund. However, he has no idea how to fix the problem. All that he has in mind is to privatize government agencies and transfer those on government payroll to the private sector.But, how may privatized companies are actually successful? Malaysia Airlines which has been repeatedly bailed out by the government, for example, was one of the privatization pioneers of the bygone century but ha subsequently turned back to the government for assistance due to poor management and efficiency.

Khazanah has recorded its first ever loss of RM6.3 billion in a decade, of which RM3 billion loss has been from MAS. How to plug this bottomless hole? Like the previous BN administration, PH is not resolved enough to have a clean cut with the airline company, arguing that it is national pride that cannot be sold or closed down. In the end, taxpayers are made to foot the bill of a continuously bleeding Khazanah.The PH government is also considering to reintroduce the AP in a bid to support bumiputra companies. The AP issue has invited a lot of controversies during BN's time because it has been perceived as a tool for the government to help its cronies make money. Mahathir warned last September that bumi businessmen found trading their APs or contracts would risk having them nullified. That said, it has been reported that AP awardees are in negotiations to sell their APs at RM18,000 to RM22,000 each.The issuance of APs has proven to be detrimental to the country's interests while being unable to help the government achieve the goal of supporting bumi businesses. Despite the fact PH has previously stressed transparency and accountability, it appears that the coalition is more than happy to bring back the old policies and walk down the old path.Meanwhile, PH has also failed to see which way the national economy should be headed to, how to take the country out of the middle income trap, and lift the competitiveness of the B40 group. As the new government has no idea at all how to do these, it just has to stick to the old ways of doing things, including the release of more assistance funds to help the poor. New technology and digital economy should be the future of this country, not the third national car project.What is worrisome is that Tun Mahathir's antiquated thinking is beginning to influence some of the younger ministers, including economic affairs minister Azmin Ali who has urged the government to map out a new Malay economic policy to ensure their wealth growth and more equal distribution of the country's wealth.

Racist mentality has sounded the first warning bell, and conservative religious concepts will sound the second. The police have begun to probe Women's Day gathering citing the Peaceful Assembly Act and Sedition Act just because some of the participants have defended the LGBT community. The meeting between minister in the PM's department Mujahid Yusof Rawa and controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has also drawn tremendous criticisms.The country has seen too little change over the past ten months. If every department is willing to make several moves forward, we will see a very different Malaysia. Unfortunately, our ministers are so reluctant to make the move. For instance, entrepreneurship development minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof claims that the government will invest RM1 million to research a flying car while tourism, arts and culture minister Mohammadin Ketapi vows that there are no homosexuals in Malaysia.The latest incident of illegal dumping of toxic chemical waste in Pasir Gudang proves that the new government is not anything different from its predecessor where industrial supervision is concerned. No prompt action was taken the incident broke out on March 7, and the state government has no idea what to do even after the incident has deteriorated.Old weaknesses and irregularities are still very much alive despite the advent of the New Malaysia. Environmental pollution still occurs, floods are still common after rain, public security remains bad. - Sin Chew Daily

18 March 2019

Australian police said they were investigating after a teenager smashed an egg on a controversial right-wing lawmaker who had blamed New Zealand's mass mosque shootings on the country's immigration programme.The footage, shared widely on social media, showed Senator Fraser Anning being approached from behind at a political event on Saturday, before having an egg cracked on the back of his head.The footage showed Anning appearing to try to hit the person, before that person was dragged to the ground.Victoria Police released a statement saying the incident was being investigated "in its entirety" and that it involved a 17-year-old boy.Anning has received widespread condemnation following comments he made, saying that the cause of New Zealand's worst peace time shooting was letting "Muslim fanatics" migrate to the country."(Anning's) conflation of this horrendous terrorist attack with issues of immigration, in his attack on Islamic faith specifically, these comments are appalling and they're ugly and they have no place in Australia," Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (photo) told journalists on Saturday.Calls to Anning's electoral and parliamentary offices went unanswered on Sunday.

A GoFundMe campaign had raised more than A$19,000 (RM55,108), for the teenager to cover the cost of legal fees and so he could "buy more eggs," by Sunday and the hashtag #EggBoy was trending on Twitter.Meanwhile, Australia's immigration minister announced on Saturday that controversial conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos would not be allowed to enter Australia following Yiannopoulos describing Islam as a “barbaric” and “alien” religion."Yiannopoulos’ comments on social media regarding the Christchurch terror attack are appalling and foment hatred and division," Immigration Minister David Coleman said in a statement.Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after 49 people were killed and dozens wounded in mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques. - Reuters/mk

49 sejadah dibentangkan di Melbourne...

My sympathy goes to Dr Streram...

Let me declare, at the outset, that I do not know Dr S Streram personally. I have never met him. Before GE14 and his subsequent court challenge for being denied entry into the nomination centre, I had never heard of him. However, that does not mean I am unable to support a politician whom I know absolutely nothing about. How many voters personally know the candidate they voted for, anyway?Mine will be a sympathy vote for Dr Streram. Sympathy vote, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, describes an occasion when a lot of people vote for or support a particular person because he or she has suffered recently. An example: He won the award, but some suspected he got the sympathy vote following his struggle with cancer.Oh yes, I have a lot of sympathy for Streram. I understand his journey from GE14 till now has not been a bed of roses. He had to undergo multiple challenges, which a lesser man would not possibly be able to handle nor wish to tolerate. He has been bullied, ridiculed and vilified publicly, this past week in particular.To begin with, he was given a tough seat, Rantau, to contest in GE14. Party bigwigs will normally secure all the prime seats for themselves first, leaving the less winnable constituencies to the lower echelon within the party. Apparently, Streram falls into the second category, being only the PKR Rembau division deputy chief.The opponent in Rantau was none other than the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar and current Umno boss Mohamed Hasan. Streram would have faced an uphill task, had he even been given the opportunity to file his nomination papers. Streram took his case to court and only after nine long, agonising months did he secure the verdict which was rightly his.I wonder what happened to the returning officer concerned for his role in the case. Was he ever reprimanded? He should be barred from ever being assigned the task again, for by his action on that nomination day, he had dealt a great injustice to a bona fide electoral candidate. A few days ago, Streram was greatly shocked to learn that his party colleague and Segamat MP Edmund Santhara had lodged a police report against him for an unpaid loan of RM62,000.

Unkindest cut from a so-called friendI doubt outsiders are interested at all in this private lender-borrower deal, but they could surely smell a rat at the timing of the report and how it went public just before the PKR leadership confirmed Streram as the candidate for the coming by-election. This has to be the unkindest cut from a so-called friend. From the press reports, I think the onus is on Santhara to explain his motive for the move against his friend to whom he had willingly made a personal loan.As this episode played out, public sympathy was seen to clearly be with Streram. Here was a father who was short and he needed help from a friend to pay his daughter's college registration fees. The people understand this to be a friendly loan which Streram said had been repaid in full. So, what’s really behind all this?If the motive is to tarnish Streram’s name and public standing on the eve of a by-election, then it has failed and failed miserably. Perhaps talk that this is yet another episode of back-stabbing within the two factions in PKR is not totally untrue. Streram must know now how cruel and dirty politics can play out at times.The day Streram was announced as the Harapan candidate for Rantau, he received another shocker. This time, it was a social media message claiming he was seeking public donations to contest. Dismissing the message as a hoax, Streram said it was yet another attempt to slander him ahead of the election. Is this yet another evil sabotage attempt from within?PKR did the right thing to re-nominate Streram as the candidate, never mind whether he is the best choice or not. He deserved the chance he was denied in GE14. I am glad that Anwar Ibrahim said, “Though there has recently been much rhetoric on the Malay agenda, the coalition wanted to show that it represents the interests of all Malaysians.”Well said, Anwar. Although fielding an Indian candidate in a constituency with a 53 percent Malay electorate is a risk, it is one well-taken and accepted by the majority of Malaysians, save for the minority extremists and bigots in our midst. As a voter, let me say this: I am a Chinese and I will vote for Streram, an Indian. The skin colour has no bearing in my decision. If Harapan were to field a Chinese who is a known shady character, I would either vote for Mat Hassan or skip the election. Unfortunately, I’m not a registered voter in Rantau. - Francis Paul Siah

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